Reuters: How a Typo Can Create a Conspiracy Theory

It’s not unusual to find anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists lurking in the nether regions of the web who will always try to claim that Israel mounts “false flag operations” to discredit its enemies. In the case of the Iranian weapons ship seized by the IDF, this would entail Israel planting the missiles on board in order to serve its own nefarious propaganda.

While this sort of fringe lunacy can be readily dismissed, it isn’t helpful when a reputable media outlet makes an error that might assist in the construction of such a conspiracy theory.

Israeli television footage showed what appeared to be marines inspecting a rocket on the floor of a ship hold, with cement bags labeled “Made in Israel” in English next to it.

In fact, this is what Israeli television footage, courtesy of the IDF, actually showed:

The cement bags were clearly marked “Made in R. Iran” and not Israel.

While Reuters has since corrected its original report, the same cannot be said of other international media outlets that relied on the Reuters story for their own coverage, including the Sydney Morning Herald and Canada’s Globe and Mail.

This illustrates the added responsibility that the wire services have to get it right the first time and the dangers behind a simple typo.

UPDATE

Both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Globe and Mail have updated their articles to match the corrected Reuters version.

As a former newspaper publisher, I promise you that a major news service does not make this type mistake. Unfortunately, Reuters and AFP are no longer in the journalism business, but in the racket of appeasing Arab friends and founders, just like Delta stopping airline flights, while nobody reports they have an agreement (2011) with the Saudis to not carry Jews to the Middle East. If you have an Israeli stamp on your passport, you are forbidden to board the plane.

Did anyone ever see, hear, read, about “honest and reputable media”? It seems that all, or nearly, reporters and news media have graduated from the “Goebbels” Advanced Propaganda University; starting with that piece of rag Al Jazeerah that cannot even be used to wipe oneself off!!!!!

A TYPO???? By calling this deliberate misinformation a typo, HR is being as dishonest as Reuters et al. Changing R.Iran to Israel can in no way be considered a typo, even taking into account IPhone’s lousy spell check!